The Special Representative of the United Nations’ Secretary General said that protecting and restoring water-related ecosystems such as forests, mountains, wetlands and rivers was essential to mitigate water scarcity and build community resilience to climate change.
“With climate change and increasingly unpredictable weather conditions, over two billion people have been affected by drought; and more than 11 million people have died as a consequence of drought,” he said.
In West Africa, Chambas observed that “particularly in the Sahel and the Guinea Savannah zones, farmers and fishing communities have seen drastic cuts in their output as major sources of water bodies shrink or disappear altogether”.
He attributed the phenomenon to environmental degradation through deforestation and uncontrolled use of fragile ecosystems which had affected water harvesting and carrying capacity of watersheds.
Between 1970 and 2000, according to available data, populations of fresh water declined in the sub-region by 50 percent due to loss and degradation of biodiversity.
“This compromises ecosystems and all the services they deliver, including the supply of clean water,” Chambas emphasized.
As the world is ushered into the era of sustainable development goals, statistics indicate that one out of every five deaths in children is due to water-related disease.
He said only 67 percent of the world’s population had access to sanitation while almost 2.5 billion lack access.
In Ghana, only 15 percent out of the 25 million people have access to improved sanitation, needing about 85,000 toilets to be built every year.
Mariame Dem, Head of WaterAid in the West Africa Sub-Region, said notwithstanding the achievements of the provision of water and sanitation facilities in the past, the story would not end until everyone everywhere had adequate supply of WASH services.
While WaterAid has launched its new global strategy for the next five years, Dem said WaterAid Ghana was also at the final stages of developing its new country strategy.
“Our agenda is a transformative agenda with the aim to reduce inequalities, support sustainable services, have effective integration of WASH with the wider development and promote hygiene behavior change,” she added. Enditem
Source: Xinhua
